Astros call up Brandon Barnes for major league debut

In his eighth year in the organization, after he was free to sign anywhere else and even thought about giving up the sport, Brandon Barnes was the starting center fielder for the Astros on Tuesday night.

Barnes was called up from Class AAA Oklahoma City when Jordan Schafer was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a separated shoulder.

After 2,976 plate appearances in the Astros’ farm system, he got his first as a big leaguer at age 26.

“There were a couple points in my career when I just wanted to shut it down,” Barnes said. “I felt like this might not be the game for me. It was tough. This game’s a grind. I just kept going. My wife pushed me, my family pushed me and told me I can do it.”

His wife was in the crowd with his daughter, his father and his pastor – follow him on Twitter at @TheBarnyard15 and one will see the role of religion in his life – as he made his debut.

“There’s no words to describe it because I’ve been working my whole life for this,” Barnes said. “It’s been a long road but it’s time to do it.”

Between Oklahoma City (62 games) and Class AA Corpus Christi (44 games), the righthanded hitter was batting .321 with a .381 on-base percentage and a .514 slugging percentage when he was called up.

Brad Mills didn’t commit to an everyday role in center, but that was his usual position and where the playing time should open up with Schafer down.

Schafer still hurting

The separation in the AC joint in his left (throwing) shoulder was just the latest problem for Jordan Schafer, who has battled injury and repeated illness since reporting to spring training.

Schafer was examined before the game Tuesday and ultimately placed on the disabled list after soreness that he started experiencing in Atlanta this weekend b

“Obviously you never want to go on the DL, but it’s just a fact of you can’t have somebody down and not being able to play for an extended period of time,” Schafer said. “I’ve had this injury in ’09. It took probably 10 days to two weeks to get better. It eventually got better but it took a while.”

So there is no timetable for a recovery, and even when healthy, his bat hasn’t been good this year. He’s hitting .216 with a .304 on-base percentage and a .302 slugging percentage in 96 games.

“It’s been frustrating,” Schafer said. “The whole season’s been like this after the first two months – it’s gone downhill for me and for all of us in this organization as a team. We haven’t been very successful. It’s sad but it’s something that happens and I just need to get healthy.”

More changes

There were more ripple effects from Brandon Barnes’ promotion to the big leagues.

To clear room on the 40-man roster, Class AAA reliever Juan Abreu was designated for assignment, giving the Astros 10 days to send him through waivers and trade him or if he clears, release him or outright him to the minors.

To take Barnes’ place in the Oklahoma City outfield, the Astros promoted Marc Krauss from Class AA Corpus Christi. Krauss, acquired from the Diamondbacks in the Chris Johnson trade, was the Texas League Player of the Week in his one week at Corpus Christi, with five home runs in seven games.

Krauss is only a corner outfielder, but Jimmy Paredes has continued his outfield work in center field as the Astros try to clear a path to the big leagues for him outside Jose Altuve’s shadow at second base.